Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson has made San Francisco his home for the past 24 years. He makes 16mm films as well as drawings and prints which explore sequential forms, such as the phenakistoscope, comic book, and animation storyboard. His films have screened at SFMOMA, Pacific Film Archives, and San Francisco Cinematheque. 2014 exhibition includes presentations of live film/music collaborations with duo B. (Lisa Mezzacappa and Jason Levis) at Center for New Music in San Francisco and Marielle Jakobsons at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. Also in 2014, Mark curated a program of films for the Canyon Cinema Salon series at New Nothing Cinema in San Francisco.

Project Statement: In my drawing and print work, I’m interested in sequential forms related to cinema which allow for the exploration of multiple images as fragments of a unified work.

"88keys" is a work is made in the storyboard form commonly used by animation studios in middle of the 20th century. This storyboard form can suggest a linear progression; however, as all the images are visible simultaneously, nonlinear readings are also permitted. The title references both animation key drawings and musical instrumentation that influences the work. Aaron Novik has composed and recorded two albums of music related to "88keys." Those recordings, "Storyboard Music Volumes 1 & 2," can be heard at aaronnovik.bandcamp.com

"Phenakistoscopes" and "Ghost Dance" are companion pieces of ten inkjet prints and an animated video sourced entirely from the same drawings. In the prints, pictographic figures on a disc are shown static and fragmented. The video animation rotates the figurative fragments, appearing to unify them in the performance of a ritual dance. Each disc of animated drawings completes a full revolution every second, effectively functioning as a timepiece.

"Cylindric Impressions" is a series of images recorded on location using a smartphone and panorama app. Imperfections in the app are exploited in ways unintended by its design to improvise a panoramic collage with a duration of exposure often encompassing up to several minutes. The passage of time and camera’s movement through the space, are conveyed in subtle ways within the image. The title of the series references ancient cylinder seals, from which the work draws inspiration, as well the cylindric form of panoramic photography.

88keys
88 archival pigment prints on homasote board with pushpins
92" x 55"
2008

Phenakistoscopes nos. 2,3,4,6,7,9,10,12,13. and 14
Archival pigment prints,
7" x 7"
2009

Ghost Dance
Digital video
8.5 min loop
2009

Cylindric Impressions
Archival pigment prints
32" x 16"
2015